Testing times call for child-like resilience

Our son is home-schooling, again. He’d only been back in the classroom for five days when a boy in another class tested positive for COVID-19 and the whole year group were sent home.

Three days later, we received an email to say that as our son hadn’t come into contact with the boy from a different class, he could return to school the next day, along with around 70% of his year.

By the time he was on his return bus journey home, a girl in his class also tested positive and the whole of year 10 is now self-isolating for 14 days.

Of course, we can’t get our son tested. For a start, he’s not eligible since he has no symptoms. That hasn’t stopped us trying to book a test though. We’ve just discovered what the rest of the country already knows - that ‘over capacity’ at testing laboratories has ground the UK’s ‘world-beating’ test and trace system to a virtual stand-still.

So why am I telling you this? Well, not only does it explain why I’ve edited this month’s EN from home, it also has had me thinking about mass testing for the exhibition environment.

On 3 September, the UK government announced a £500 million investment to support trials of wider mass population testing, as well as a quicker “20-minute” saliva test.

Setting aside the fact that half a billion pounds is being spent by a government who can’t seem to get basic testing right, do we think that mass population testing will see a swifter return for organised gatherings such as exhibitions and live events?

The likelihood of false positives and the logistics of managing a 20-minute window before being allowed into an exhibition suggests it’ll be challenging at best.

At any rate, now the government has reneged on its October restart plan, the industry will have to lobby twice as hard even to be considered as part of any mass participatory testing pilot.

Despite this latest set-back, this month’s EN is full of positivity, reasons to be optimistic and sound advice. As we navigate these testing times together, it’s important to remain upbeat. I’ve learnt this past month how resilient children are to disruption. It’s a lesson for us all.

Mike’s editor’s letter appears in the October issue of Exhibition News